LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: A team of human rights activists has been given rare access to Australia's detention centre on Manus Island and it's delivered a damning verdict.

The Amnesty International researchers were able to go where no journalists have been able to: behind the razor wire to meet with and assess prisoners.

Their report says the situation is cruel, inhumane, degrading and even violates prohibitions against torture and Amnesty delivered its report to the Immigration Minister Scott Morrison at a meeting this afternoon.

Conor Duffy has this exclusive report.

CONOR DUFFY, REPORTER: Manus is a remote island to the north of Papua New Guinea, a lonely, sweltering jungle hoped to be undesirable enough to kill the people smuggling trade.

KEVIN RUDD, THEN PRIME MINISTER (July 19): Today the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and I are announcing a major initiative to combat the scourge of people smuggling.

CONOR DUFFY: In the dying days of his government, Kevin Rudd announced the mothballed remains of a Howard era detention centre would again become central to Australia's Immigration policy.

KEVIN RUDD (July 19): From now on, any asylum seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees. Asylum seekers taken to Christmas Island will be sent to Manus.

CONOR DUFFY: The Manus Island plan was also embraced by the new government. It immediately announced people arriving on Christmas Island, the main landing point for asylum seekers, would be on their way to Manus within hours.

SCOTT MORRISON, IMMIGRATION MINISTER (Sept. 23): Under the previous government, people settled in on Christmas Island. That won't be happening under a Coalition government.

CONOR DUFFY: Little is known about what goes on behind the barbed wire on Manus Island. Today one of the first detailed accounts emerged. 7.30 has exclusive access to a report based on the work of three Amnesty researchers who were allowed in for a week last month. It's clear the haste in getting people to the island doesn't apply to processing the claims of the roughly 1,100 men detained there.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT (male voiceover): "No asylum seeker held on Manus Island since the facility reopened in November 2012 has yet received a Refugee Status Determination. ... None of the Australian Immigration officials with whom we spoke could give a timeframe for the process."

GRAEME MCGREGOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: The experts, mental experts in the facility said to us that uncertainty, that lack of knowledge about how long this is going to continue and what's going to happen in their future is a serious mental health issue.

CONOR DUFFY: Today Foreign Minister Julie Bishop met her PNG counterpart, Rimbink Pato. He announced processing refugee claims won't start until February. That long wait on Manus could be very uncomfortable.

According to Amnesty's first-hand account, the tropical centre lacks some of the most basic services.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT (male voiceover): "Most the latrines had no soap when we inspected them ... there are too few showers and toilets to accommodate the number of men in the facility, resulting in unhygienic conditions."

GRAEME MCGREGOR: We were informed by several members of staff that gastroenteritis is common. There have been several outbreaks of gastro inside the compounds. And we would certainly argue that that is much more likely because the men don't have soap in the toilets a lot of the time.

CONOR DUFFY: The report finds conditions vary between the three main compounds on Manus Island. Amnesty is making the extraordinary claim that in one of them, there's not even enough drinking water to go round.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT (male voiceover): "In the largest compound ... water is supplied through 19-litre bottlers - a dozen bottles a day for nearly 500 men, according to the staff who supply them, or less than a single 500 mill' bottle per person, an amount that is clearly insufficient, especially given the heat and humidity."

CLAIRE MALLINSON, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: When we talked to the medical staff there, they estimated that over 30 per cent of the detainees there now have mental health problems. We talked to people who expressed desires to self-harm and also suicide. A guy from Iraq told us that, you know, he would rather have died at sea.

CONOR DUFFY: 7.30 sent detailed questions about the report's key allegations to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison. Late today he issued a statement saying that where improvements to the centre could be justified, they would be made, but that offshore processing is here to stay.

Previously the Immigration Minister had addressed questions about overcrowding on Manus at his weekly briefings.

SCOTT MORRISON (Nov. 1): We have current physical capacity to deal with everybody who is there.

CONOR DUFFY: With silence in Canberra for now, it was left to the PNG Government to defend conditions on Manus Island.

RIMBINK PATO, PNG FOREIGN MINISTER: Their reports that have come is not a true reflection of what's happening on Manus. I think the report was out-of-date. If - at the present time, I think we have a pretty good facility there.

CONOR DUFFY: Amnesty, though, says it interviewed 58 detainees and its report gives a rare window into the secret world of Manus Island.

LEIGH SALES: Conor Duffy reporting. And the Immigration Minister Scott Morrison declined to be interviewed, but he issued 7.30 a further statement late today saying he'll investigate Amnesty's allegations about sanitation and water. He also says subsequent works at Manus Island since Amnesty visited may have addressed some of the issues. You can find his full statement on our website.

730 sent the following questions regarding the Amnesty report to the office of the Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison:

1. Amnesty says there is a lack of basic services like soap for latrines and that medical staff on the island have unsuccessfully requested them. If true that would seem a pretty basic standard to be met in a tropical environment, is there a risk of spreading disease?2. The allegations are also that detainees in the biggest compound Oscar are only getting 500ml of water a day. Is this accurate? If so why is this considered a satisfactory amount?3. The report says no asylum seeker has had their claim processed. When will the first claim on the island be processed?4. The report is titled 'this is breaking people'. How does the government respond to suggestions the government is breaking people?5. What was achieved at today's meeting with Amnesty?6. When will Australian journalists be given the same access to the facility?The Minister replied with the following statement:

"Almost six years ago the Rudd Government bowed to pressure from advocacy groups and political parties such as the Greens to abolish offshore processing and the other measures that had been introduced by the Howard Government."Those advocates were successful in restoring all the policies they believed would result in a more humane treatment of people seeking to come to Australia by boats, to claim asylum and gain permanent residency."The Labor Government's implementation of policies proposed by advocacy groups created the environment where more than 50,000 people arrived on more than 800 boats, and more than 1,100 people perished at sea. In addition more than 15,000 people seeking Australia's protection from offshore in refugee camps and other places, were denied access to Australia's refugee and humanitarian programme. The policies pursued by the Rudd and Gillard Government, at the behest of asylum advocates, resulted in a humanitarian disaster."The Abbott Government has reversed these six years of policy and humanitarian failure by restoring the strong border protection policies that are stopping the boats and are saving lives."Where practical, suggestions raised to improve the operations of our offshore processing centres will be given proper consideration."The Government, in partnership with our partners in Nauru and PNG, have already acted to reactivate processing of claims on Nauru and Manus and to rapidly expand the capacity and nature of facilities at both Nauru and Manus, to address the deficiencies we identified when coming to Government, some of which are also noted in the Amnesty Report."Where improvements can be made and can be justified, they will be made, but the policy of offshore processing is here to stay. To walk away from offshore processing as the previous Labor Government chose to do, at the urging of those who are now making the same recommendations once again, would be reckless and irresponsible."

And in response to Amnesty's allegations regarding water and soap, the Minister said:

"We will investigate the claims and will be seeking further details from Amnesty in order to substantiate the veracity of the complaints. Once this is done we will be in a position to provide an appropriate response. At this point the references are ambiguous and may have been superseded by expansion and other works already undertaken."